India

No real substantial hike in MSP, says Pravin Togadia

Former Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the hike in the minimum support price of paddy and other crops.

He told reporters that 162 farmers’ organizations would undertake a march in August in support of farmers demands from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. The hike was not 1.5 times the production cost as claimed by the government as the input costs of farmers were undervalued, Togadia claimed. The hike announced by the government barely amounted to Rs 200 per crop, he said.

The UPA government used to hike the MSP by Rs 50 every year, while the NDA government hiked it by Rs 200 after four years, Togadia claimed. The hike was announced when the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were approaching, he said. The government should have fixed the MSP based on cultivation costs which include the cost of capital and the rent on the land, he said.

The present model only takes into account the cost incurred by the farmer and the value of family labour, Togadia said. The government, thus, first reduced the base input cost, and then increased the MSP by 50 per cent, he said.